Hold Congress Accountable

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Senate Democrats and liberal groups are mounting a pressure campaign against the Supreme Court, hoping to influence future decisions by blasting conservative justices for alleged political bias.

The essence of our Constitution is to limit and disperse the power of government. Now, Democrat Senators, Reid (D-NV), Whitehouse (D-RI) Schumer (D-NY), and Leahy (D-VT) as well as their political allies are intentionally violating the principle of the Separation of Powers. The framers of our Constitution limited the power of Congress, and it is the Supreme Courts duty to declare a law void when Congress exceeds the limits on their Constitutional powers.

Here is a real example: Was Chief Justice Roberts influenced in the ObamaCare case? Did he switch his vote that the ObamaCare fine was a tax – a tax is a Constitutional power vested with Congress - because he thought the power and prestige of the Supreme Court would irreversibly damaged? There are many people who speculate and reason that is exactly what happened. Robert’s feared the Democrats would scream that the Court stole the election in 2000. Then, if the Roberts' Court declared ObamaCare void, the Democrats would scream again the Court was voiding a duly passed law – ObamaCare. Thus, Roberts created the tax to save the power and prestige of the Supreme Court.

What were the mental machinations of Chief Justice Roberts? Most likely, Americans will never know. Except, it is certain Democrats believe Justice Roberts and the Court can be pressured. They accept they pressured Roberts and are spending time and money to pressure the Court again. Randy Barnett, a law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, compared the Senators pressure campaign to coaches working the referees in basketball games.

“The left clearly tried to work the refs on the Affordable Care Act,” said Randy Barnett. “They worked the refs after Citizens United, which helped set things up for the Affordable Care Act challenge. If it seems to work, why not continue? It’s unfortunate, I think, that they’ve been encouraged in this behavior by its apparent success.”

Alexander Hamilton, one of the smartest of America’s Founders, wrote in Federalist No. 78, "The complete independence of the courts of justice is peculiarly essential in a limited Constitution." Today, approximately 230 years later, Democratic Senators are attempting to demonize our conservative justices. Worse, it appears that Chief Justice Roberts was influenced by previous pressure.

In Federalist No. 78, Hamilton explained the necessity of the Supreme Court to declare a law void, "… whose duty it must be to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void." Finally, Hamilton reasoned if the Court fails in its responsibility to declare a law unconstitutional there is no restraint on Congress. Without this, all the reservations of particular rights or privileges would amount to nothing.

It is deplorable that our Senators and President have demonized members of the Supreme Court. It is unconscionable for members of the Court to succumb to campaigns of demonization. America critically needs political leaders imbued with the philosophy of freedom. Government that is small and limited. Achieved by dispersing and separating the enormous powers of government.

When the so-called "public option" single-payer healthcare program was scrapped during the legislative "debate" over ObamaCare in 2009, lawmakers working on the bill created the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan Program as a compromise. The non-profit co-op program is meant to compete with private, for-profit health insurance plans in the individual and small group markets. The 2010 healthcare law provided $3.4 billion in start-up funding to help get the program off the ground.

Sometimes a man’s just got to take a stand. Rand Paul did it his 13-hour filibuster on drone strikes, Ted Cruz did it in his 21-hour floor speech to defund ObamaCare, and now Mike Lee is invoking an obscure Senate procedure rule to completely repeal everyone’s least favorite health care law.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on Thursday showing that undercover consumers were allowed to re-enroll in health plans on the federal ObamaCare Exchange. The bogus enrollees had outstanding document issues that should have prevented them from obtaining subsidies for coverage.

More Americans paid ObamaCare's individual mandate tax for 2014 than previously estimated, according to a new report from the Internal Revenue Service's National Taxpayer Advocate. In January, the Treasury Department projected that up to 6 million households would be subject to the tax because they did not purchase a government-approved health insurance plan.

A new analysis finds that the health insurance plans offered on ObamaCare exchanges offer a choice of 34 percent fewer health care providers, on average, than plans offered on the private market. The report specifies that:

America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade association that lobbies on behalf of insurance companies in Washington and in state legislatures, announced on Wednesday that Marilyn Tavenner, the former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), will serve as its president and chief operating officer. Tavenner oversaw the disastrous implementation of ObamaCare during her tenure, which, some suspect, ultimately led in her resignation from CMS in January.

The Supreme Court has now largely upheld ObamaCare, with a carve-out from the contraceptive mandate for closely held companies, the first three times the law has been challenged in the Court. Because of this, it is difficult to have much faith that the Court will ever overturn the law based on constitutional concerns. However, there is still another case working its way through the DC Circuit, Sissel v. HHS, challenging ObamaCare based on the Origination Clause.

Health insurance companies are signaling huge health insurance premium increases ahead of the 2016 open enrollment period. This is due to the droves of older and sicker consumers who signed up for coverage on the ObamaCare Exchanges, according to a report from The New York Times. Requests submitted by insurance are approved by state regulators, such as state insurance commissioners, but the proposed rates reflect a higher utilization of healthcare than expected.